Director Rian Johnson On How ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ Parallels ‘The Empire Strikes Back’

“Star Wars: The Last Jedi” Director Rian Johnson recently explained the film’s structural parallels to 1985’s “Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.” The film is the second entry in the new “Star Wars” trilogy and follows J.J. Abram’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” The latter was previously compared to be the modern version of the original 1977 “Star Wars” film, “A New Hope.”

“The Force Awakens” laid the foundations for the new trilogy so that it could make way for Johnson’s Episode VIII and Colin Trevorrow’s “Star Wars: Episode IX” and to ultimately set off on their own storylines. However, some fans are still thinking that “The Last Jedi” could be an echo of “The Empire Strikes Back.”

‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ Is ‘Unique With Some Structural Parallels’ To Episode V

Oscar Isaac in Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017). Photo via Lucasfilm Ltd.

In Entertainment Weekly’s “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” cover story, Johnson did confirm that there are some elements of Episode VIII that draw heavily on “The Empire Strikes Back;” but he also says that his film is largely different compared to the original trilogy’s second installment. Here is what Johnson had to say:

“I just tried to kind of ignore that aspect of it and have the story take the shape that it needed to. But look, Rey is off in a remote location with a Jedi master, and the Resistance is in a tough spot, and we’re intercutting those stories. By its very nature, there are some structural parallels. But these are new characters, they’re dealing with new things, and that ultimately is what defines the movie. So I think that’s going to be unique.”

Photo via Lucasfilm Ltd.

Although Johnson stresses how unique Episode VIII is compared to Episode V, there are two distinct similarities between the two “Star Wars” films. Luke Skywalker training Rey on Ahch-To is an obvious mirror of when Luke trained with Yoda on Dagobah. The First Order also reels from the loss of Starkiller Base, which, in turn, is another mirror of when the Empire lost their first Death Star after “A New Hope.”

Overall, it looks like “The Last Jedi” will very much have its own spin on the narrative with only a few unavoidable semblances to “Empire Strikes Back.” In fact, the director actually says that his film has more things in common with Richard Marquand’s “Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.”

“Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi” hits theaters December 15, 2017.